Let's talk about sex

Sex and Temperament in three primitive societies, originally uploaded by pwilnyc.

And some old covers are just pretty.

This title always made me think "Learn piano in three easy lessons." It's still an interesting read, lots of action, kna'mean? although Auntie Margaret's style of observer ethnography is out of fashion now. Colin Turnbull, another AMNH alum, kind of put a cap on that when he went bananas at the Ik.

Do yourself a favor and go to the AMNH Anthro Dept's web site (not you, Jaime, I can hear you scoff from here). Click on Collections Database and then search any of the collections. Asia is good. Search on like "shoe" or "doll" or "hat". In Asia, search on "netsuke" or "cricket". The photos are achingly fine, and some of the objects are fascinating. From the bad old days when anthropologists brought home more than taped interviews and photos.


Bowl. Admiralty Islands, Pwam. Collected by Margaret Mead in 1929. AMNH cat. no. 80.0/ 4981